The present study examined risk factors from infancy
associated with the development of preschool disruptive behavior problems across child,
parent, and sociodemographic domains. Risk factors that consistently were associated with
the prediction of age 5 disruptive behavior included disorganized attachment
classification at 12 months, and maternal personality risk and childrearing disagreements
during the second year. In addition, infants with disorganized attachment status at 12
months whose mothers perceived them as difficult in the second year showed significantly
higher aggressive problems at age 5 than those with only one of the two risk factors
present. When pathways leading to clinically-elevated aggression at age 5 were explored,
infant disorganized attachment status, maternal personality risk, and childrearing
disagreements demonstrated equivalent predictive validity as child aggression assessed at
age 3.